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Book part
Publication date: 19 November 2019

Yujie Cai

This chapter presents a theoretical framework of the industrial relations (IR) system in China’s coal mining industry, combining the roles of management organizations, workers…

Abstract

This chapter presents a theoretical framework of the industrial relations (IR) system in China’s coal mining industry, combining the roles of management organizations, workers, and trade unions, as well as government agencies. It is one of the first empirical attempts to investigate the relationship between human resource (HR) practices, labor relations, and occupational safety in China’s coal mining industry over the past 60 years, based on the secondary data on coal mining accidents and case studies of two state-owned coal mines in a northern city in Anhui Province, China. The fluctuating occupational safety has been affected by government regulations over different time spans, marked by key political agendas, and by coal mining firms taking concrete measures to respond to these regulations, while exhibiting differing safety performance in state-owned versus township-and-village-owned mines. The field studies compared a safety-oriented to a cost-control-oriented HR and labor relations system, and their influences on safety performance. Coal mining firms and practitioners are advised to shift the traditional personnel management paradigm to a modern HR management system. In addition, although workers are often blamed directly for accidents, it is suggested that workers’ participation and voice in various processes of decision-making and policy implementation, and trade unions’ active involvement in protecting workers from occupational hazards, be encouraged.

Details

Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-192-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 July 2020

Kuok Ho Daniel Tang

This review compares the primary occupational safety and health (OSH) laws of the ASEAN members against the major provisions of the primary OSH laws of the United Kingdom (UK) and…

Abstract

Purpose

This review compares the primary occupational safety and health (OSH) laws of the ASEAN members against the major provisions of the primary OSH laws of the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US) grouped under the themes for OSH law adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Design/methodology/approach

This review employs the 11 themes for OSH law adopted by the ILO as the basis of comparison. As the themes lack specificity in terms of their respective contents, specific facets of the themes are drawn from the review of the primary OSH laws of the UK and the US.

Findings

The review shows that primary OSH laws of the ASEAN members encompass the fundamental aspects of the ILO OSH themes particularly the regulatory framework, scope, roles of authorities, duties of employers and employees as well as safety inspection and enforcement. The review demonstrates a lack of provision of worksite consultation by the authorities, the emphasis on research, experiment and demonstration by the government as well as certain aspects of training.

Practical implications

OSH in many developing members of the ASEAN is still evolving to advocate the basic rights of employees, protect the safety of the public and ensure the welfare, safety and health of employees are upheld at workplaces. There is an obvious disparity in the coverage of the primary OSH laws of the nations, resulting in widely varied OSH implementation. This study contributes to advancement of the primary OSH laws in developing ASEAN members by highlighting areas of their primary OSH laws that can be improved. Improvement of the primary OSH laws is crucial to subsequent improvement and development of subsidiary laws to provide for adequate protection at workplaces.

Originality/value

Most studies of OSH laws in the ASEAN are country-specific and often theme-specific. There is currently no study which compares the primary OSH laws of ASEAN nations using themes derived from the ILO as well as primary OSH laws of the UK and the US. This review is one of its kinds to use such an approach in providing a comparative overview of the primary OSH laws of all ASEAN nations.

Details

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8351

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 23 January 2023

Thomas J. Kniesner and W. Kip Viscusi

The most enduring measure of how individuals make personal decisions affecting their health and safety is the compensating wage differential for job safety risk revealed in the…

Abstract

The most enduring measure of how individuals make personal decisions affecting their health and safety is the compensating wage differential for job safety risk revealed in the labor market via hedonic equilibrium outcomes. The decisions in turn reveal the value of a statistical life (VSL), the value of a statistical injury (VSI), and the value of a statistical life year (VSLY), which have both mortality and morbidity aspects that we describe and apply here. All such tradeoff rates play important roles in policy decisions concerning improving individual welfare. Specifically, we explicate the recent empirical research on VSL and its related concepts and link the empirical results to the ongoing examinations of many government policies intended to improve individuals' health and longevity. We pay special attention to recent issues such as the COVID pandemic and newly emerging foci on distributional consequences concerning which demographic groups may benefit most from certain regulations.

Article
Publication date: 5 April 2022

Timothy Stephen Eccles

The paper utilises formality-informality modelling to examine occupational change, using commercial service charge management as its case study.

Abstract

Purpose

The paper utilises formality-informality modelling to examine occupational change, using commercial service charge management as its case study.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper that develops a typology for applying formalisation to occupational change and then utilises historiography to generate a narrative on the evolution of service charge management.

Findings

Formality is seen as a method of improving transparency and performance as a “modern” response to a range complaints about professional performance. Whilst real improvement failed to develop, a “snowball” of continued formalisation remained the perceived solution, leading to centralisation of measures of professional performance.

Research limitations/implications

The work is a conceptual paper that develops a historiography on the development of service charge administrative practice. Whilst it relies on objective data and secondary literature, the narrative that is developed is subjective and interpretive.

Originality/value

The conceptual nature of the work offers potential insights into occupational organisation. It suggests that formalising procedures in itself does not improve performance.

Details

Property Management, vol. 41 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-7472

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1996

Per Christensen and Sussi Handberg

Presents findings from an investigation of the adoption of different “abatement” technologies in 30 Danish firms, encompassing traditional iron manufacturers and electroplating…

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Abstract

Presents findings from an investigation of the adoption of different “abatement” technologies in 30 Danish firms, encompassing traditional iron manufacturers and electroplating firms. The abatement measures were all instigated to improve environmental or occupational safety and health conditions. Reasons and incentives for these measures were investigated. Finds that there are big differences between the different types of firms. Moreover public regulation is the most common incentive for adopting abatement technologies. Internal forces in the company ‐ attitudes of management and employees ‐ were also found to have an essential influence, while economic considerations play only a minor role.

Details

Environmental Management and Health, vol. 7 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0956-6163

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 29 August 2018

Paul A. Pautler

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and…

Abstract

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

Details

Healthcare Antitrust, Settlements, and the Federal Trade Commission
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-599-9

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Article
Publication date: 1 April 2003

Julia Evetts

Professions, as a special (privileged) category of service‐sector occupations, are nowadays perceived as under threat from organizational, economic and political changes. Many of…

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Abstract

Professions, as a special (privileged) category of service‐sector occupations, are nowadays perceived as under threat from organizational, economic and political changes. Many of these threats concern the medical profession (and sometimes the legal profession). The use of the discourse of professionalism in other occupational contexts is seldom addressed, however, yet it is this, which is providing a much more interesting challenge to social scientists. In this paper the increased deployment of the concept “professional” is critically discussed and the power of the discourse of professionalism is explored more closely. The increased use of “professionalism” in new and existing occupational contexts is considered as a mechanism for facilitating and promoting social and occupational change. Many of these occupations provide services and often women constitute the bulk of the practitioners in these occupational groups. It is time to look again then at professionalism as a set of persuasive ideas or an ideology and to examine the power of these ideas and this discourse in terms of social order and control of occupational groups and individual “professionalised” practitioners.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 23 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

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Article
Publication date: 28 October 2020

Fernanda Rodrigues, Flávio Antunes and Raquel Matos

The use of building information modelling (BIM) methodology has been increasing in the architecture, engineering, construction and operation sector, driven to a new paradigm of…

Abstract

Purpose

The use of building information modelling (BIM) methodology has been increasing in the architecture, engineering, construction and operation sector, driven to a new paradigm of work with the use of three-dimensional (3D) parametric models. However, building information modelling (BIM) has been mostly used for as-built models of a building, not yet been widely used by designers during project and construction phases for occupational risks prevention and safety planning. This paper aims to show the capacity of developing tools that allow adding functionalities to Revit software to improve safety procedures and reduce the time spent on modelling them during the design phase.

Design/methodology/approach

To reach this objective, a structural 3D model of a building is used to validate the developed tools. A plugin prototype based on legal regulations was developed, allowing qualitative safety assessment through the application of job hazard analysis (JHA), SafeObject and checklists. These tools allow the automated detection of falls from height situations and the automated placement of the correspondent safety systems.

Findings

Revit application programming interface allowed the conception and addition of several functionalities that can be used in BIM methodology, and more specifically in the prevention of occupational risks in construction, contributing this paper to the application of a new approach to the prevention through design.

Originality/value

This paper is innovative and important because the developed plugins allowed: automated detection of potential falls from heights in the design stage; automated introduction of safety objects from a BIM Safety Objects Library; and the intercommunication between a BIM model and a safety database, bringing JHA integration directly on the project. The prototype of this work was validated for fall from height hazards but can be extended to other potentials hazards since the initial design stage.

Article
Publication date: 13 May 2014

Stephen Timmons, Frank Coffey and Paraskevas Vezyridis

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of lean methods in an Emergency Department (ED) and the role of the professions in this process.

1930

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of lean methods in an Emergency Department (ED) and the role of the professions in this process.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with ED staff in a UK NHS hospital.

Findings

Lean was met with more engagement and enthusiasm by the professionals than is usually reported in the literature. The main reasons for this were a combination of a national policy, the unique clinical environment and the status of the professional project for doctors in emergency medicine.

Research limitations/implications

Single site, one-off study.

Practical implications

The status and development of professionals involved may play a big part in the acceptability of initiatives like lean methods in health care. The longer term sustainability of the organisational changes introduced remains open to question.

Originality/value

This paper analyses the success of lean methods in health care with reference to the professional status and stage of development of the professions involved, using the sociology of professions. This approach has not been used elsewhere.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 28 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 September 2022

Dhruba Kumar Gautam and Prakash Kumar Gautam

This study examines the effect of occupational stress on turnover intention of employees working in the banking industry. The authors examine the mediating effects of service…

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines the effect of occupational stress on turnover intention of employees working in the banking industry. The authors examine the mediating effects of service climate and emotional regulations of the employees in the relationship between occupational stress and intention to leave the organization.

Design/methodology/approach

This study followed stratified sampling technique for data collection from employees of ten commercial banks based on the banks' financial performance of top 5 and bottom 5 out of 27 banks. Data were collected at 2 stages, first from 465 employees for occupational stressors and second from 408 employees among the participants in the first stage for turnover intention, service climate and emotional regulation. Harman’s one-factor test was conducted to examine the common method bias. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), regression analysis and Preacher and Hayes Process Macro approach were used to examine mediation effect.

Findings

Three factors, namely workload (WL), role ambiguity and growth opportunity expectations were identified as the occupational stressors in the banking industry, predicting a positive relation of overall occupational stress to the intention to turnover. Service climate and the employees’ emotion regulation ability mediate the relationship between stress and turnover intention. Results also revealed no significant role of control variables in predicting occupational stress and turnover intention.

Practical implications

This study implies that the WL, role ambiguity and growth opportunity expectations of the employees cause stress in employees which may lead to have turnover intention. In order to get success in competitive environment, managers of banking industry can address stressors by enhancing service climate and formulating policies and programs to strengthen the emotion regulation which is evidence to strengthen the reciprocity approach of social exchange theory in employees’ commitment.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the social exchange theory and attempts to fulfill the gaps in empirical research on personnel psychology, human capital\ and organization management in developing countries.

Details

Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-4323

Keywords

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